Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to surgical laser systems and methods of operating or controlling such systems.
Surgical laser systems have been used in various practice areas, such as, for example, urology, neurology, otorhinolaryngology, general anesthetic ophthalmology, dentistry, gastroenterology, cardiology, gynecology, and thoracic and orthopedic procedures. Generally, these procedures require precisely controlled delivery of laser energy as part of the treatment protocol to cut, vaporize or ablate targeted tissue, such as cancerous cells and prostate tissue, for example.
Black body radiation is one of the basic phenomena in physics, which has been commonly used for measuring the temperature of the body. Generally, the subject in thermodynamic equilibrium will radiate electromagnetic waves having a specific spectrum and intensity that depends only on the temperature of the body.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,869,016, which is assigned to the same assignee as the present application and the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety for all purposes, discloses a technique for protecting the laser fiber tip by monitoring the black body radiation from the fiber tip. The intensity of the black body radiation is used to indicate a temperature of the fiber tip, which is used to automatically shut off the discharge of the laser energy when the temperature reaches an unsafe condition. Thus, in this instance, a physician does not have the ability to alter the laser procedure being formed or to change the operating parameters of the laser device to avoid system shut down.
The temperature achieved by exposing tissue or a treatment site to laser energy plays an important role in determining the type of laser treatment being performed (e.g. coagulation, vaporization, etc.), as well as the effectiveness of the laser treatment. For example, it may not be possible to perform a vaporization treatment or the vaporization treatment may be inefficient, if the temperature is too low at the treatment site. Additionally, the temperature sensed at the treatment site may also indicate that the laser fiber, from which the laser energy is discharged, may suffer damage due to overheating the fiber tip.
It would be desirable to provide real-time laser treatment site temperature information to assist the physician during a surgical laser treatment to: identify the laser treatment being performed, improve the efficiency of the laser treatment by, for example, preventing overtreatment or under treatment, warn the surgeon of potential fiber tip damage, and/or provide other benefits currently unavailable to physicians.